The Primary 7 Support Buddies have been practising their presentation for Autism Awareness week which runs from Monday 26th March. They will be sharing their knowledge of what autism is and some top tips on how we can all support people who are autistic. Please check back here and on Twitter next week for links on further information about autism.

 

We would like to share the opportunities our children have to learn an instrument at Giffnock Primary and within East Renfrewshire Council.

If you child is currently in Primary 3 or Primary 5, you will have received a letter about the instrumental tuition available at Giffnock Primary.

Primary 3 – violin or viola starting August 2018 when your child starts Primary 4.

Primary 5 – brass, woodwind or guitar starting August 2018 when your child starts Primary 6.

Within the next few weeks, our instrumental instructors will visit the classes to tell the children about the instruments available to them.

If your child is interested, please return the letter by Thursday 29th March 2018. After the Spring holidays, the various instrumental instructors will collate the returns and they will meet with the interested children for a short assessment.

The number of children being offered lessons in school is determined by the music service and not the school.

Priority is given to the above classes, however if the uptake is low there may be an opportunity to open it up to other classes. Again, this is at the discretion of the music service.

An alternative to lessons in school is the wonderful Saturday music school held at Williamwood Secondary School. They are currently advertising the Come and Try sessions in April for Primary 4 and Primary 6 pupils.

All details of application forms, Come and Try dates and the Parental Information Leaflet, detailing cost can be found on our school website through the following link:

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Giffnock/curriculum/expresive-arts/

We hope this information is helpful for those interested in learning a musical instrument.

Yours sincerely,

Judy Brown

Principal Teacher

 

We are looking for volunteers to participate in Bikeability training with Cycle Scotland.

Bikeability is a programme that prepares pupils for cycling safely both on and off the road. Bikeability has been successfully implemented in Giffnock Primary school for a number of years now and this is all thanks to the support that we have received from our fantastic parent volunteers. Unfortunately, without that support we would not be able to continue implementing Bikeability in our upper school classes.

We would be incredibly grateful for any volunteers and if you would be interested in participating in Bikeability Training please contact the school to find out about dates and times.

Dear parent/carer

Our Annual Book Fair will take place here in the school from Wednesday this week. The Book Fair is always lots of fun for the children, parents and teachers. It also provides another opportunity to encourage children to use and enjoy books, both fiction and non-fiction.

Children will be given a leaflet today – for further information please click on the link below:

Book Fair Letter March 2018

Dear Parent / Carer

I am pleased to inform you that our kitchen will be undergoing a significant refurbishment, beginning later this month. The work itself should not overly impact upon the learning environment and we will still be able to use the Blue Gym Hall for PE times and lunches.

However, whilst the kitchen is being refurbished, the kitchen staff have advised me that it will be necessary to offer a reduced menu as follows:

• Soup
• Sandwiches – a choice of cheese, ham and tuna will be available

The changed menu will begin on Wednesday 14th March and is likely to go on until Friday April 20th 2018.

I hope that this clarifies the matter for you,

Yours sincerely,

Rob Lawson Head Teacher

 

This year Fairtrade Fortnight runs from 26th February to the 11th March 2018 and we are going to put Fairtrade in our snack.  This might include Fairtrade bananas, grapes, chocolate, cereal bars or juice!  You can easily find the Fairtrade logo on items at the supermarket, so don’t be afraid to get your children involved in the Fairtrade logo hunt.

Thanks for your participation,

The Eco Committee

Here is a link to a short video which highlights the importance of Fairtrade in an accessible and fun way.

https://schools.fairtrade.org.uk/resource/pablo-the-super-banana/

 

World Book Day is coming!

On Thursday 1st March 2018 we will be participating in World Book Day to celebrate the work of authors and illustrators in a variety of ways. On this day we invite your child to come to school dressed as their favourite book character!

http://www.worldbookday.com/

 

Dyslexia Scotland

Glasgow East Ren Branch

Parents, Pupils and Teachers are welcome to our OPEN MEETING on Wednesday 21st February 2018

Supporting dyslexia within Higher Education

By Claire Rattray from University of Glasgow

7.15pm-8.15pm at Mearns Castle High School, Newton Mearns, G77 5GU

http://www.dyslexiascotland.org.uk/your-branch/glasgow

Dyslexia Scotland 01786 446650

http://www.dyslexiascotland.org.uk

Helpline phone number: 0344 800 84 84

helpline@dyslexiascotland.org.uk

Dyslexia Scotland is a company registered by guarantee.

Registered in Scotland No 153321 Charity No SC 000951

 

 

We have been asked by the Parent Council to remind you about their fundraising event “Crazy Hat Day Or Crazy Hair Day” which is being held on Thursday 8th February.

Children are invited to wear a hat or style their hair in a fun way and they could make a £1 optional donation to the Parent Council “playground repair fund”.

 

We would like to remind you that there is a change of menu on Thursday 25th January to celebrate Burns Day.  Haggis, neeps and tatties will replace hot 1 chicken curry for all pupils that day. The rest of the menu will remain the same.

 

 

Dear Parent/Carer,

We have been asked by the kitchen staff to remind you that your child must choose an option from the lunch menu each day.

We have discussed this with the children and have reminded them that what they choose in the morning from the menu is what they will get in the lunch hall.  The kitchen do prepare the food to order and therefore have limited chance to offer any alternative at lunchtimes.

We would appreciate if you could reinforce this at home.

Many thanks for your support.

 

We have been advised by the school kitchen that they will only be able to offer soup and sandwiches to pupils on Thursday 18th January as their water supply is being switched off that morning.

To enable the school kitchen to make up the sandwiches for Thursday, the class teachers will be taking pre-orders on Monday and/or Tuesday.  Could you please discuss with your child whether they wish to order a school meal that day and what filling option they would prefer (Cheese, Ham or Tuna) so that they have the information ready for their class teacher at the beginning of next week.

We have also been advised of a change of menu on Thursday 25th January to celebrate Burns Day.  Haggis, neeps and tatties will replace hot 1 chicken curry for all pupils that day, the rest of the menu will remain the same.

 

Giffnock Primary School – Additional Assembly Date

P6B and Mrs Livingstone Friday 12 January 2018 at 09:50

Dear Parent/ Carer,

During the school year each class will present their own assembly.

Your child’s class will send you an invitation in advance to attend; please reply to this so that we know for seating arrangements.

Pushchairs:

Parents/ carers with pushchairs can access the school via the front ramp entrance and pushchairs can then be ‘parked’ in the Brown hall (for Health & Safety reasons please do not leave buggies in the corridors).

Secured entry system:

As the safety of our pupils is a priority at all times and following Health & Safety guidelines, can parents/ carers please remember not to ‘buzz’ other parents into the school building as everyone should gain entry via the main office door. Thank you.

We look forward to welcoming you to share in the children’s learning!

Dyslexia Unwrapped is a new website from #dyslexiascotland to support children and young people with dyslexia. The website has lots of useful information and fun activities.

https://unwrapped.dyslexiascotland.org.uk/

 

As part of our continuing work on supporting pupils in their Health and Well Being we offer a variety of information drop ins.

Last term we hosted a session on supporting communication skills and your feedback was very important as we use this to respond to commonly raised issues by offering sessions to address and support these.

From conversations and feedback, the difficulty of supporting good sleep patterns and routines was raised. As Mrs Carney is our fully trained Ambassador for Sleep Scotland at Giffnock Primary, we would like to offer our next session on this area.

We have attached an  information leaflet on Sound Sleep for further details.

Sound Sleep Leaflet

Mrs Carney will be hosting a Sleep Scotland drop in meeting on Wednesday 24th January 2018 at 2pm at Giffnock Primary in the school library.

If you would be interested in attending we would be delighted to see you.

Please contact the school office either by phone or email to confirm your interest so we know numbers for seating and refreshments.

 

Over the course of January we will be looking at creative ways to celebrate the use of Scots Language, with a particular whole school focus during the week commencing 8th January 2018.

The attached letter provides more information:

Giffnock Myths and Legends